Tancredo Out...of Congress

It's rare that my Congressman, Tom Tancredo, ever does anything that fills my heart with joy, but after the Rockies lost the World Series Tom "Let's-bomb-Mecca" Tancredo announced that he will not seek reelection in Congress. It would be nice if he would give us his embarrassing Presidential bid as well, but Tommy's just not that smart.

Here's the news from the Washington Post, Tancredo Won't Seek New Term, and here's a site of a fellow constituent who has been keeping tabs on the man, Tancredo Watch.

Adios, Tom.

Update: Wonkette's take.

The five-term congressman represents a “solidly Republican” Denver suburb that kept electing him no matter what crazy gibberish he spouted, so Colorado’s 6th District will presumably elect another nut. Maybe the next one will be worried about space aliens.

“I would rather dig my friend Ray Carver out of the ground.”

The Real Carver: Expansive or Minimal - New York Times:

"Tess Gallagher, the widow of Raymond Carver, one of the most celebrated American short-story writers of the 20th century, is spearheading an effort to publish a volume of 17 original Carver stories whose highly edited versions were published in “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love,” his breakout 1981 book."

Again, we're looking at the role Gordon Lish played in the work in Raymond Carver and what Carver himself would have wanted. There's little doubt that Lish had a signifcant role in the so-called minimalism of Carver. One need only reference the other writers he edited to see the similarities. But does this mean that the Carver we know and love is not the "real" Carver. No. The core is Carver. The story is Carver. Even if the sentence level edits by Lish were significant. I've seen a copy somewhere of a manuscript page with Lish's edits all over it, and if I were the writer I'd be a little depressed about the changes.

As the article reveals, and we are reminded, Carver was far from pleased and tried to get definative versions of some of his stories released.

Carver’s later editor, Gary Fisketjon of Knopf, which holds the copyright to “What We Talk About,” is deeply opposed to the idea.

“I would rather dig my friend Ray Carver out of the ground,” he said. “I don’t understand what Tess’s interest in doing this is except to rewrite history. I am appalled by it.”

Carver, who died in 1988 at 50, had tried to set the record straight himself. He restored and republished five of the stories from “What We Talk About” in magazines or later collections. In “Where I’m Calling From,” a volume of new and selected stories that Mr. Fisketjon helped edit and that was published the year Carver died, three of the stories that had appeared in “What We Talk About” — “So Much Water So Close to Home,” “The Bath” (retitled “A Small, Good Thing”) and “Distance” — appeared in restored form. But Carver also included four other stories from “What We Talk About” in the versions edited by Mr. Lish.

As far as a new collection of earlier drafts, I'm all for it. Why not release different versions? How different is it from the idea of publishing Kerouac's original scroll version of On The Road? I would buy it, even though I own the originals. Frankly, I'm surprised Knopf wouldn't publish it, at least so that they would have some control over it. Putting it out by another publisher guarantees that it competes with Knopf's editions.

The whole Lish issue takes some fun out of reading Carver, but they are still brilliant stories.

Book Review: The Optimist's Daughter

The Optimist's Daughter by Eudora Welty

I found the novel pleasingly simple, told linearly, from a single close third-person perspective, surrounding a single event, taking place over only a few days. It was reminiscent of Alice Munro, or even some Anna Kavan, with its aging, solitary female character. And these are writers whose work I enjoy very much.

There was also a timelessness here that made it difficult to pin down the era without rereading the details closely. The language is simple, the story is simple, even the drama within in muted.

Sometimes there are books you like for no particular reason, no single, obvious reason. This is one of those books.

The National Book Award Nominees

The National Book Foundation:

FICTION
Mischa Berlinski, Fieldwork
Lydia Davis, Varieties of Disturbance
Joshua Ferris, Then We Came to the End
Denis Johnson, Tree of Smoke
Jim Shepard, Like You’d Understand, Anyway

Some out there don't seem too impressed with this list, but I think there is some admirable work here. In fact, I bought a bargain copy of Ferris's book this week and it sits on my desk awaiting my attention.

Oh, and what about nonfiction?

NONFICTION
Edwidge Danticat, Brother, I’m Dying
Christopher Hitchens, God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything
Woody Holton, Unruly Americans and the Origins of the Constitution
Arnold Rampersad, Ralph Ellison: A Biography
Tim Weiner, Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA

Yes, you read that right: Hitch. Oh, lord.

Lessing wins Nobel Prize in Literature

Lessing wins Nobel Prize in Literature - Yahoo! News: "STOCKHOLM, Sweden - English writer Doris Lessing, who ended her formal schooling at age 13 and went on to write novels that explored relationships between the genders and races, won the 2007 Nobel Prize in literature on Thursday. "

I am still haunted by one short story I read by Doris Lessing where a young white girl meets an African king on the road and he moves out of the way for her to pass. I can't seem to find that story again, but it gave me a great respect for Doris Lessing. Congratulations.

Book Review: Into the Wild

Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer

With the release of the movie, I thought it worthwhile to read the book before the movie possibly ruined it for me. I have to say that I expected more from the book. Krakauer has a prominent name, the book did well, but I was less than impressed with the writing. It bore traces of padding, as if he was looking for filler to make the book longer. The book is filled with other, shorter narratives concerning other adventurers, including some of Krakauer's own experiences, but none of these seemed to address what more interesting to me, the character of Chris McCandless.

I don't know anyone who hasn't had that urge to skip it all and walk out on society. My own past is filled with those sorts of plans. I don't find McCandless unique in this. Where I find him most interesting is in his dealings with others. He seems to have had a profound effect on most of the people met. I know that in non-fiction the author is limited in how he could draw out these sorts of things. Krakauer left it mostly to direct quotes. That may be compelling but not explicit.

On the issue of McCandless's recklessness, I too am a little torn. I understand how the whole idea would rile Alaskans who understand the challenges and requirements of the wild. To shirk preparedness is to disrespect it. Or maybe he thought it was easy, when others knew how damn hard it was. I understand this, but I don't think there was any willful disrespect. I think he was a victim of his own idealism.

Krakauer's writing is sloppy and flawed. He needlessly repeats himself or steals phrases from his own quotes. And then other times he tries out some more creative sentences using words that are striking and out of place. The book doesn't even seem to progress in any cohesive way. The only thing that keeps you reaching is to find out the circumstance of McCandless's death.

As much as I disliked the book, I am looking forward to the movie, if only for a real dramatization of McCandless's story.

Book Review: Birds of America

Birds of America by Lorrie Moore

Sometimes you know a writer's name, you know you've heard good things about them, but you don't know what you've ever read anything by them. This was the case for me with Lorrie Moore. So, when I stumbled across this title in a used book store, I figured it was time.

As I put down the book, though, I was not altogether impressed. First, why put the most depressing stories at the end? Because if they'd have come early on in the book, no one would make it through. And what a way to leave the reader. And what came before the final two stories was not all that original.

I love the modern short story, full of disjointed relationships, eclectic characters, sarcastic and sardonic, but without profundity nothing earnest is revealed. Not that the stories were bad, or not interesting even, but they just didn't stand out to me.